Meeting Presentations & Minutes
January 10, 2008 (pdf)
August 13, 2007
March 22, 2007
September 27, 2006 (pdf)
May 31, 2006 (pdf)
January 4, 2006
April 6, 2005

MOU
Membership
Facilitator/SEP Role
Subcommittees
Steering Committee

The Utah Wind Working Group is an organization comprised of representatives from federal, state and local governments, utilities, renewable energy advocates, wind power industry, environmental organizations, landowners, and other entities interested in the development of wind energy facilities in Utah.

The Utah Wind Working Group is structured with general membership, a facilitator, working subcommittees and a steering committee.

Misson: To promote wind power development in Utah. The primary emphasis will be the development of commercial-scale wind farms in Utah, which may stimulate rural economic development opportunities. Actions will also be taken to promote small-scale wind development.

Membership

Initial Members

Invitations were initially extended and will continue to be extended to representatives from key organizations or individuals interested in the development of wind power facilities in Utah.

The Utah Wind Working Group includes representatives from Utah Power and the Rural Electric Cooperatives, Division of Public Utilities, the State Energy Program, the wind industries, economic development and rural development offices, consumer, environmental, and renewable energy advocates, landowners and other local, state and federal government agencies.

Facilitator and Role of State Energy Progam

The overall function of the facilitator is to facilitate group meetings and oversee the implementation of the various objectives and action plans. The facilitator will also represent the group in the national or regional state wind working group coordinators' meetings.

The State Energy Program (SEP) presently serves as the group's facilitator. A SEP staff member will initially serve as the group's secretary to record minutes of the meeting and to send notices to members.

Duties of Facilitator

1. Acts as facilitator for the working group (WG) members and the Steering Committee.
2. Schedules WG and Steering Committee meetings.
3. Coordinates the implementation of various action items in the strategic plan.
4. Coordinates with the various sub-committee chairs on implementation issues.
5. Updates members of the WG during regular and special meetings.
6. Communicates with the WG members on wind development activities.
7. Participates in sub-committee meetings as appropriate.
8. Represents the WG in national/regional state coordinators' meetings.

Role of State Energy Progam

1. Provides facilitator for the working group.
2. Provides secretarial and other administrative staff support for the working group.
3. Provides technical staff support.
4. Provides meeting/conference rooms for the working group or sub-committee meetings.
5. Provides audio-visual equipment during meetings.
6. Provides partial funding to operate the working group, if funds are available.
7. Solicit funds from various sources to operate the working group.

Working Subcommittees

Initial Subcommittee Members

Several working subcommittees carry out the mission and objectives of the Utah Wind Working Group Strategic Plan. Each subcommittee is comprised of a chairperson and several members. The subcommittee chairperson provides guidance and direction to the members and is responsible for the actual organization and function of the subcommittee and reports to the Utah Wind Working Group on the progress of its activities. The subcommittee chairperson also works closely with the UWWG facilitator.

Role of Subcommittee

1. Prioritizes action items for specific strategic objectives.
2. Sets milestones for accomplishing the various action items.
3. Meets regularly to address implementation processes, issues and progress.
4. Establishes methodology for communicating to sub-committee members.
5. Assigns subcommittee member's responsibility for action items.
6. Adds action items if needed with approval by the UWWG's steering committee.

Duties of Subcommittee Chair

1. Acts as facilitator for the members of a specific committee.
2. Schedules subcommittee meetings to update subcommittee on strategic objective/action items progress.
3. Coordinates the implementation of the various action items as contained in the specific strategic objective being accomplished.
4. Coordinates with the facilitator of the Utah Wind Working Group on implementation issues.
5. Coordinates with the other subcommittee chairs on related issues affecting the specific sub-committee's strategic objective.
6. Updates the members of the Utah Wind Working Group during its regular or special meetings on activities of the subcommittee.
7. Reports quarterly to UWWG facilitator who disseminates information to the working group as appropriate.

Subcommittee work assignments are voluntary, but all parties are encouraged to participate to have an equitable distribution of work.

The current working subcommittees and their respective functions are as follows:

• Education and Outreach - responsible for educating the public via media channels, town hall meetings, workshops, and meetings with individual stakeholders.
• Cost of Wind Power in Utah - responsible for creating a cost analysis of wind in Utah and to determine its economic benefits.
• Government Policy Development -responsible for promoting the establishment of government policies to encourage development of renewable energy resources including wind and for increasing the level of awareness of policy makers.

Steering Committee

The steering committee is comprised of subcommittee chairs. Other representatives may also be invited as appropriate.

The steering committee will have the responsibility for keeping each other informed and determining if further actions for strategic objectives are appropriate. It will also serve as advisor to the UWWG facilitator.

The committee will identify and seek funding from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL), and other sources to implement the various action items contained in the strategic plan.

The Utah Wind Working Group (UWWG) facilitator chairs the steering committee. Other chairs can be selected, if necessary.